County promoting breastfeeding to help babies and mothers lead healthier lives

San Joaquin County is aggressively promoting as much breastfeeding as possible so that its babies and mothers can lead healthier lives.

The Board of Supervisors has allocated $150,000 in tobacco tax money this year to promote breastfeeding throughout the county. The money comes from a tax of 50 cents per pack of cigarettes to finance wellness programs from pre-natal to age 5. It helps babies, children and their families.

The issue is especially acute in San Joaquin County, because the county ranks near the bottom statewide in the number of mothers who continuously breastfeed their children to at least their first birthday, said Lani Schiff-Ross, executive director of First 5 San Joaquin, which carries out the breastfeeding initiative.

Of the 50 counties providing statistics to the state on breastfeeding, San Joaquin County ranks 41st (eight counties are considered too small to provide data). That's a big deal when 10,000 to 12,000 babies are born in San Joaquin County each year.

County officials and hospitals are encouraging mothers to breastfeed their babies for six months without giving them any other food, said Mary Woelfel, who coordinates the Public Health Breastfeeding Initiative for the county.

For the next six months, moms are encouraged to combine breast milk with other foods, Woelfel said. The key component is to breastfeed for at least a year and avoid using baby formula. The World Health Organization recommends two years of breastfeeding, Woelfel said.

The WIC Association and the Human Lactation Center at the University of California, Davis, lists the 15 hospitals in California with the highest rate of mothers who breastfeed their children without mixing in formula. The nearest to Lodi and Galt are in Davis, Placerville and Hayward.

Thirteen of the 15 hospitals with the lowest breastfeeding rates in California are in Southern California. The other two are San Joaquin General Hospital in French Camp and a medical center in Kern County.

Woelfel, who lives in Lodi, is working with six hospitals in the county (Kaiser-Permanente in Manteca doesn't have maternity services) to improve the breastfeeding rate.

"It's a public health issue," she said.

For example, breastfeeding reduces childhood obesity, she said. When breast-fed babies are full, they tend to stop eating, Woelfel said. But when they use bottles with formula, babies employ a "clean-the-plate mentality," and therefore, gain weight.

Woelfel said she is asking each hospital, including Lodi Memorial, to select at least one of the 10 policies that qualify as a California Model Hospital for breastfeeding. The good news about Lodi Memorial, Woelfel said, is that it has already included improving breastfeeding rates in its strategic plan.

"This is all voluntary," Schiff-Ross said. "Every hospital in the county is on board with this."

The First 5 Commission will begin training maternity staff at each hospital, and each hospital will appoint a team to carry out the breastfeeding initiative, Schiff-Ross said.

Woelfel works part time for the county and part time at Lodi Memorial Hospital, where she has taught breastfeeding classes for 21 years.

"This is her passion; she knows breastfeeding inside and out," Schiff-Ross said of Woelfel. "She's the breastfeeding guru in our county."

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.